Malawi president accused of diverting donated maize to Zimbabwe

By Tererai Karimakwenda
02 November 2006

An opposition official in Malawi has accused President Bingu Wa Mutharika of sending tonnes of free maize to Zimbabwe, which had been donated by the United Nations. Kamlepo Kalua, leader of the opposition Malawi Democratic Party (MDP), said they have discovered maize is disappearing from the strategic grain reserves in Malawi, heading for Zambia and from there to Zimbabwe. Kalua said: “And as I am talking to you today some people have discovered there are some trucks at Nyamapanda border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe and these trucks are Malawian trucks full of tonnes and tonnes of maize which is going to Zimbabwe.”

Asked whether Malawi was selling the maize to Zimbabwe Kalua said they were informed the maize was just a donation from the Malawi leader to the Zimbabwean government. He said Malawi had a bumper yield this year producing more than enough maize. And some also came from international well wishers who made donations to the people of Malawi. Criticising Mutharika for diverting the maize, Kalua said: “We have hunger, we have drought, and it is sad that he would divert donations like that.”

As to why their president would give away a precious commodity like maize for free, Kalua said Mutharika wants to be a good son-in-law to Zimbabwe, particularly to Robert Mugabe. Apparently Mugabe referred to Mutharika as “great son-in-law” during a visit to Zimbabwe earlier this year. Mutharika’s wife Ethel is Zimbabwean and the 2 leaders have been forging closer ties recently. Kalua said it is no surprise their policies have become the same. He added: “Mutharika has been showing undemocratic tendencies of a dictator which go against what we fought against during the 1993 referendum when we opted for multi-party democracy.”

On the Zimbabwe side our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us the manager of the Grain Marketing Board Colonel Muvuti recently said the GMB was beefing up its maize stocks with supplies from Zambia. But Muchemwa explained that Muvuti was concealing the real source..

Back in May the Malawi government, through president Bingu Wa Mutharika, put out an urgent appeal for maize saying their stocks were running out. UNICEF quickly raised the necessary money and tonnes of maize began arriving into Malawi by the end of June. Muchemwa and Kalua believe this is the same maize that was shipped to Zimbabwe, through Zambia and Mozambique, to conceal the source.

Muvuti, a former army colonel, was arrested and detained briefly on charges of corruption during this same period between May and July. It is not clear whether his arrest was linked to the shipments of maize from Malawi. And just last week President Mutharika dissolved his entire cabinet, including the minister of agriculture. Again it is not clear if the suspensions were connected to the maize scam.